Multiple system operators (MSOs) may rely on client devices to provide services to their customers, and the client devices may rely on software to provide these services. Examples of MSOs include cable, satellite, and broadcast television providers. In order to maintain proper operation of the client devices, the software may need to be periodically updated or changed to another version or release level.
Conventionally, a MSO server would poll each client device operating in a particular MSO to identify whether the software of each client device was up-to-date. If outdated, the MSO server would provide the client with a software update.
For MSOs having a large number of client devices, an extensive amount of network resources and processing time may be consumed to support polling of each client device. With larger systems, the time taken to poll each client device and complete a software update may even outlast the version of software being updated, i.e., the updated software may already be out of date by the time all of the client devices have been updated.